I saw this on a few messageboards so I decided to copy and re-post it here. I like it. "Consistently profitable blackjack/poker players and traders pursue their goals as a business, not as a leisurely pursuit therefore taking a completely different approach towards betting/trading from people who play for the action, the excitement and the dream of getting rich quick. Trading is a game of odds NOT certainties, and preserving your equity is vital by taking small losses when youâre wrong and increasing your stake at the right time to maximize profits. Trading is not a game of being right more often than wrong, but all about being profitable."
Well put! Trading is also not about making predictions, only seeing what "might" happen. Hoping need not be fatal provided that you never forget that what you hope for might not happen, and that hoping also has no effect on the outcome. Thinking trading represents fast, easy money need not be fatal provided that you realize the truth before you do too much damage to your net worth.
Yes, the market simply offers points from which you accrue your daily score. Lets take Fridays gyrations in CL (Nov 6 2009) which offered 674 points, 10am to 2.30pm (9 'legs' at a mean averarge of 74 points per 'leg'). The premarket and early market in CL (say from 6.33am to 10am) on the same day offered 810 points which was big play. Lets get to practical results. You play each 'leg' in a continuum. If you made wide turn-arounds in your position well off the gyrational tops and bottoms of each 'leg', you added an allowance for inexactitude/inexperience and you set your expectation/outcome at 20% of the maximum points offered on Friday (max 674+810=1484 points), then you would have scored 296 points. Assume you played just one lot ($10 contract) then $2960 is your profit on the day. This does no more than tell you that you can make yourself rich from trading. You retain your profits continuously day on day so as to be able to keep building your position size. You have to, of course, deploy a reliable and dependable trading system to navigate the day. Also you should use a volatile and liquid market (eg CL,NG) offering good points daily.
Like it and couldnt be more correct. I regularly play around with my lot sizes, waiting for the big move then bank the lots up. I believe this is a good trading technique and would advise others to adopt it.